Eat, browse and shop on Barney's digitalised table top

Barneys opened its new interactive floor cafe, genes @ CO-OP, where shoppers can grab a meal while checking out what’s new and of note at Barneys on a digitized tabletop. The restaurant has room for just 30 diners, each of whom are spread across a communal table with a glass top under which there are 30 computer screens allowing diners to digitally order off the menu and scroll through Barneys’ digital content.

Mark Lee, Barneys newest CEO explains the goal behind the rennovations:
You don’t need to leave your house to shop in today’s world. So if you’re going to go out and spend time in a physical store, the experience of that — the entertainment aspect, the social aspect, shopping with your friend or significant other of the same or opposite sex — is all part of the experience. It just enhances the opportunity.

Interactive engagement

When the going gets tough – INNOVATE

That's my view of retail and I think over the coming years we are due to see a lot more of it on Aussie shores. As the retail sector suffers and the country sits on the brink of a recession it's no secret that the coming months are set to become a challenging period. We’ve seen it in the Northern Hemisphere but if we are smart we can at least learn from their experiences.
What’s interesting is that the one thing nearly all retailers forget with diminishing revenue and cut budgets, is innovation. And that innovation and creativity is what will set them apart.

As Australian Retail Outlook deftly notes, “the money is there for the taking. It is up to retailers to create a compelling reason for them to part with it… Apple, JB Hi-Fi, Zara and Super Retail Group are all examples of retailers who are unzipping consumers’ wallets in supposedly bleak times.”

ALDO and Topshop are both great examples of retailers putting back a sense of fun, a sense of joy into shopping. Because quite frankly, it should be fun, I think we've just forgotten how to sell that.

This week Topshop teamed up with gaming app SCVNGR to provide an interactive store experience for students in the UK and US. By doing so Topshop bring cute challenges students can play to unlock exclusive rewards. For example, 20% off, a shopping spree, competitions and giveaways. Students are asked to simply download the app, do the challenges set to earn points and collect badges to receive rewards and prizes.

ALDO also revealed a new campaign called 'Shoes For Life'. An online competition where users are encouraged to play 3 games. Once completed (assuming you win each round which, quite frankly who cares if it's rigged that way or not) you receive a discount voucher to redeem against your next ALDO purchase, plus the chance to go into the draw to win shoes for life (well, 2 pairs per year for 25 years). A simple fun engagement piece that gives consumers a reason to shop there over Wittner or NineWest for example.

Teb Baker London encourages styling via twitter

At 2 p.m. ET on Friday, Ted Baker London will open the first live, Twitter-operated styling studio.

Over a two-hour period, a rotating selection of seven U.S. fashion bloggers will use a live video stream and Twitter (Twitter) to direct hair stylists, makeup artists, runners and models to create a number of different looks from 450 pieces of Ted Baker’s Autumn/Winter 2010 collection. Spectators can follow the styling session, which takes place at Ted Baker’s headquarters in London, live on takeonted.com and on Twitter by following @ted_baker.

Viewers are also encouraged to tweet in their own styling suggestions with the hashtag #takeonted. The best ideas, the company promises, will have a chance of winning a prize.

We think this is a clever promotion to raise awareness of Ted Baker’s clothing line among fashion bloggers and their readers, and is sure to boost the follower count of Ted Baker’s Twitter account, which currently sports a little less than 600 followers, as well. This marks the first big social media promotion we’ve seen from the company.

Lauren Indvik - mashable

Real-Time interactive wall

The Canadian Tourism Commission and DDB Vancouver have developed a great interactive campaign to drive awareness of Canada as a tourist destination to a number of Cities in the US. The campaign integrates interactive digital screes installed in ‘screen-scapes’ with supporting print media. The screens display real time feeds from social media such as Twitter, Youtube and Facebook, providing live feeds of people’s experiences as they travel around Canada. Passers by can choose to glance at the feeds or interact with them and ‘dive’ deeper into the feeds.

This is a great demonstration of integrating social media and digital signage to drive advertising campaigns outside of the traditional channels.

Ben Sherman's 'Shop load of shirts'

To coincide with New York Fashion week, British retailer Ben Sherman converted their SOHO window into a huge PR stunt. Using the idea of 'a shop load of shirts' they decked out their windows both inside and out with the product that made them famous.

They then filmed people's reactions...

Whole Foods Map of Local Growers

Map of Local Growers

Whole Foods has recently developed this cool map of local growers and vendors. It is still a work in progress but well worth a look. Local partnerships are added all the time and some of Whole Foods' regions and stores aren’t represented yet. Users can search for locally grown producers near them or near a specific store. Check out their interactive local growers map.

Eyestop

Developed in collaboration with the Province of Florence and local transport authority here is Italy's answer to bus dwell time boredom. Eyestop, developed by MIT's SENSEable City Lab, is an exploration into the next generation of smart urban furniture; it aims to enrich the city with stae of the art sensing technologies, interactive services, community information and entertainment. The project is partially covered with touch sensitive e-INK and screens so that it can deliver information seemlessly.